Hi Ted, the easy way to plaster skim a wall is to build up the finish with two light coats, half fill a bucket with clean water, mix in the finish plaster a llittle at a time until you have a paste like ice cream, empty the mix onto a clean board, lift your plaster from here onto a hawk, trowel it onto the wall starting at the top corner, spread evenly over entire wall, dont try to rub out the trowel marks yet, when you have the first coat applied leave it and clean your bucket and tools with clean water icluding the board you poured the mix onto this will give the first coat of plaster finish time to start setting, you can now start to mix the next batch of plaster and continue the second coat of plaster starting at the top of the wall again, you will find this coat goes on a lot faster and smoother, once you have the second coat complete wait about ten minutes the second coat will start to darken, this is the plaster setting, its now time to rub up the plaster which gives you that smooth finish you thought you would never get, just splash the wall with clean water, starting at the top and rub out all the trowel marks, do this a few times and you will achieve a nice smooth finish. Good luck.
Freddy Fix it., March 2006
